Notes from a forum I posted in once:

I used to give speeches on this subject. . . it's been a while though. . . okay, let's see if I can dig up my references again.

Sodom and Gomorrah:

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is perhaps the most misread part of the bible, and the easiest to see that it HAS been misread if you just read the whole thing through, instead of just the select passages many churches tend to pick out.

It starts off by G*d appearing to Abraham in the form of three men. They first announce to Sarah that she will bear a son in a years time (at which she laughs, and then denies laughing). . . anyway, the three 'men' continue on down to Sodom and Gomorrah and look up it stating, "The outrage of Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave! I will go down to see whether they have acted altogether according to the outcry that has reached Me; if not, I will take note."

However, Abraham approaches the L*rd (in the guise of three men) and convinces Him to spare the city if there should be but ten innocent men, free of sin, in the cities, and the L*rd agrees.

First of all, what are the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah?

Jeremiah 23:14 says: "But what I see in the prophets of Jerusalem is something horrifying: Adultery and false dealing. They encourage evildoers, so that no one turns back from his wickedness. To Me they are all like Sodom, and [all] its inhabitants like Gomorrah.

So what happens next? This is where it gets sticky for a lot of people and the misinterpretation really kicks in. In Genesis 19, G*d sends two angels to Sodom in search of those 'ten good men' at which they are greeted by Lot at the gate. Lot brings them into his home, feeds and breaks bread with them, and just as they are about to go to bed, the townsfolk of Sodom come a'knocking at the door. They shout out to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may be intimate with them." To which Lot offers his daughters in the angel's steed. However, the two angels draw Lot back into the house and close the door, telling him to flee for they are there to destroy the city.

There is no misinterpretation that the townsmen wished to rape the two angels. The word 'yada', which literally means 'to know' is most often found between a man and a woman um. . . 'getting to know' each other. ^_^; However, the outrage was not one of homosexuality, it was that the townspeople were taking two GUESTS of the city out of Lots protection. Second, angels are not men, anyway. Third, the mob showed to the two angels that the there were not even ten people in the city who were innocent, except for Lot and his family.

Well, what about the two daughters Lot offered to the crowd? The crowd neither refused nor accepted the daughters, but stated instead that they would take everything of Lot's, not just his guests. Lot had offered his daughters because he was bound with his life to protect his guests, which was a standard Hebrew practice at the time. Somebody who has broken bread and 'shared your salt' had basically formed a covenant with you, and as long as they were guests, you were to protect them with your life. The fact that the townspeople threatened this other covenant was a horror unto itself.

(you can find more on the subject of hospitality, guests, and the importance of person to person covenants in the bible in 'Light Through an Eastern Window' and 'Orientalisms of the Bible' by Bishop K C Pillai)

Anyway, G*d had decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah even before the men of the city had threatened his two messengers. He did NOT destroy the city on the basis of it's people being homosexuals. You will find references throughout the bible stating the sins of fornication (unrestrained sex), idolatry, adultery, thieves, drunkards, revilers, extortionists, etc etc etc. . . Not once is homosexuality mentioned.

In the New Testament, there have been several attempts by the New International Version to translate several words as meaning 'homosexual'. However, there is a specific Greek word for 'homosexual' and this word never once occurs in the New Testament. (the old testament, or 'tanakh' was written in Hebrew, of course). One of the words, "malakos" has been the most misinterpreted, for it means 'soft'. However, this 'malakos' is found only in reference to being 'soft of spirit.'

There are other references (Corinthians and Romans) that speak of 'strange flesh' ('ekporneuo') but are in reference to the flesh of angels, not of man.

One of those most referenced is Romans 1:26-27. However, read the verse before that. Verse 25. The people who were being punished in this verse were first of all, idol worshipers. FOR THIS SIN, (and it says exactly that) G*d punished them by 'giving them up unto passions of 'poor reputation'.' (Greek: 'atimia') These 'passions' were about changing their 'natural' behavior to that 'against nature'. (Greek: 'para physin') The women slept with women (where they had slept with men before) and vise versa.

The 'para physin' is crucial in this phrase. If your sexual orientation is genetically predetermined, then it would not be 'para physin' now would it? G*d altered these people's normal patterns of behavior, and punished them with something was looked down and spit upon AT THAT TIME. (there is actually one other reference to 'para physin' in the new testament and stated by Jesus that supports this conclusion in Corinthians, and I'll look it up in a bit)

It was the embarrassment that was their punishment, not the act itself. (oh, this reminds me of something out of Exodus. . .)

So anyway. . . ah. . . ^_^; I'm spending too much time on this. I'm not trying to 'prove' anybody wrong, but just share my research on this matter.